BASILDON Hospital has launched a series of investigations into serious incidents, including the deaths of two people from medical blunders.

One patient died three months after being given an “inadvertent overdose” of medication, while another died as a result of a problem while being fed intravenously through a catheter.

Probes into both these incidents and six more at the hospital are currently underway.

The cases have all been flagged up in a report of the board of directors of NHS South East Essex Primary Care Trust.

The papers also contain details of serious incidents occurring at all hospitals within south Essex, including an “unexplained” death of a patient at Rochford Hospital, which cares for people with mental illness.

However, Basildon Hospital has by far seen the most number of serious incidents, with eight being reported since November.

The hospital has been through a challenging 18 months following an A&E hygiene health scandal which made national headlines, concerns over high death rates, a fine of £90,000 over the death of severely disabled Kyle Flack, from Corringham, as well as outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease.

Among the latest serious incidents is one which health chiefs class as a “never event” – an incident which should, as the name suggests, never happen if all the correct procedures are in place.

This occurred on November 3 when a feeding tube was “misplaced” inside a patient.

Other incidents include a fax with private information meant for a GP being sent to a member of public by mistake and a patient not receiving prompt enough treatment for skin cancer.

A spokesman for Basildon Hospital said details about the individual incidents cannot be released to protect patient privacy.

However, she said it is right that serious incidents are reported.

The spokesman said: “It is important that when things go wrong, incidents are reported and investigated thoroughly and transparently, with the aim of learning and improving, rather than blaming.

“It is only in this way that errors, whether human or systemic, can be addressed properly, so that practice can be changed and the risk of errors minimised.”

She said the trust was not in the very high or very low categories in reporting serious incidents and was just above average.

She added: “Every serious incident is reported to our own board, our governors, NHS South West Essex, the Care Quality Commission and Monitor, as is the outcome of the investigation and action taken.

“Most importantly, we are open and honest with the patient and their family, making sure they know what has happened, why and how it happened and what we are doing about it.”

The National Patient Safety Agency says the reporting of serious incidents is important among NHS health trusts and that more hospitals are making such incidents public.

The NPSA’s director of patient safety, Dr Suzette Woodward, added: “Patient safety is a real priority for the NHS.

“Trusts across England are reporting more patient safety incidents to us, giving the service an even greater opportunity to learn and to ensure the risk of repeated episodes are minimised as much as possible.”

“These data also give trusts the opportunity to examine closely their own patterns of reporting and look at how they compare against other similar organisations.”